FLME Ch10: Difficulty

Returning home, it was already afternoon. Yu Wen changed his clothes, preparing to go downstairs to fill his stomach before catching up on sleep.

Xie Jiamao sent a message saying he had secured an episode of a variety show and needed to meet to discuss some details. Yu Wen thus turned back his feet that were heading straight for a street food stall and waited at a rather atmospheric cafe nearby.

It was a weekday afternoon, so there weren’t many people in the cafe.

Yu Wen found a remote and hidden booth. After ordering, he picked up a magazine from the table and flipped through it.

After a short while, someone sat down in the booth behind him. The rustling of fabric was close at hand.

He glanced to the side and saw the silhouette of the person behind him reflected on the glass window—male, wearing a bucket hat and a mask, with a tall, lean, and beautiful figure. He stood out very much.

Yu Wen thought to himself that this booth was chosen quite wonderfully. He could see the other person through the reflection on the glass window, but the other person couldn’t see him.

After another moment, he heard a lowered voice from the person behind him: “Why are you only here now?”

Both booths were in a remote location, far from the music, so he could hear almost every word from the booth behind him clearly.

Just as he was about to make some noise to remind them that there was someone else here, another voice spoke up: “I went to the hospital to get the report, so I’m a bit late. This is what you asked for.”

“I asked you to tail Feng Chengzhou, did you photograph anything?”

“Uh, about this, Mr. Xi. Huiteng’s Crown Prince has had bodyguards accompanying him wherever he goes recently…”

“So you got nothing?”

“Hehehe, yes.”

Yu Wen fell silent.

He quietly slid down in his seat a bit, letting the booth block his entire figure, while casually glancing at the glass window.

The clear, reflective glass window mirrored the situation opposite the tall, lean man—an ordinary-looking male, around thirty, slouching with his chest caved in, sitting down with an awkward, obsequious smile.

The tall, lean man took the document envelope. In his impatience while opening it, he casually pulled off his hat, exposing fluffy blue-gray hair to the air.

Yu Wen felt this head of blue hair looked somewhat familiar, but couldn’t recall where from for the moment.

The blue-haired guy’s voice sounded very nice. Even though it was slightly suppressed and contained anger, it was still magnetic and pleasing to the ear.

The blue-haired guy said impolitely, “Trash.”

He tore open the file envelope, took out the papers, and after a moment, let out an ambiguous “Heh.”

“A parent-child relationship exists…”

Yu Wen: “…”

A paternity test.

So dramatic.

He really shouldn’t have walked into this cafe on such a beautiful, sunny afternoon.

“You’ve read this appraisal, haven’t you?”

The man suspected to be a private detective replied: “Yes, Mr. Xi. You are a public figure and cannot easily go in and out of the hospital, so I picked up the report.”

“Keep your mouth shut tight.”

“Of course.”

Surnamed Xi, blue hair.

Yu Wen silently pulled out his phone, opened a search engine, entered these two keywords, and easily found the identity of this blue-haired guy.

Xi Su, an idol who debuted from a survival show, an all-rounder in singing and dancing, the main dancer of his group…

The private detective suddenly spoke again: “Mr. Xi, with your status, there’s absolutely no need to confront Feng Chengzhou head-on. Currying favor with Chairman Feng is the best strategy. After all, both you and Feng Chengzhou share the Feng family bloodline; a share of the inheritance rights belongs to you…”

Xi Su: “Shut up.”

This time the volume was a bit loud. Someone hurried past them. Xi Su hesitated to speak, tightened his throat, and put his bucket hat back on.

“Just do your job, don’t point fingers and tell me what to do,” Xi Su warned coldly.

Dropping this sentence, he grabbed his belongings and left the cafe without looking back.

The private detective sighed, lowered his head to sip his coffee, and after a while, also got up and left.

The wind chimes at the door jingled.

Yu Wen kept his upper body lowered, huddled into a small ball in the booth, maintaining the posture from when the two men left. The gaze behind his sunglasses revealed a dull blankness.

He thought of his reaction meme.

Don’t make noise, I’m thinking.

How fitting.

He sorted out his thoughts.

—Xi Su is the Feng family’s illegitimate son, highly likely Feng Chengzhou’s half-brother, harboring an unspoken malice towards Feng Chengzhou.

But there didn’t seem to be such a character in the book.

The Feng family in this generation did indeed have an illegitimate son, who only appeared near the grand finale. He barely counted as a vicious villain; when Chu Han hit rock bottom, he went over and stomped on him a couple of times, only to be dealt with by a responsive Feng Chengzhou.

But that illegitimate son’s original surname wasn’t Xi, it was Li.

Could Xi Su be a stage name?

Yu Wen took off his sunglasses, frowning in deep thought. Suddenly, a young girl walked up to him, staring straight at him.

“Are you an artist?”

Yu Wen opened his mouth to deny it, but the girl looked at him and started giggling. “I remember now, I have your meme! Little brother, why do you have this expression in private too, hahahaha…”

Yu Wen gave her a complicated, bitter smile.

“You couldn’t be eating melons (enjoying gossip) again, could you?” The girl blinked mischievously.

Yu Wen shyly shook his head. In reality, he was thinking: Oh my god, if you had come a little earlier, you could have seen the live version.

“Can we take a picture together?” The girl was lively and outgoing, pulling him in for a selfie. Yu Wen obediently flashed a peace sign at the camera.

“You’re so well-behaved, so pretty,” the girl praised him sincerely before leaving.

When Xie Jiamao arrived, Yu Wen was holding his phone, scrolling through fan edits of Xi Su.

The handsome middle-aged uncle had his long hair half-tied behind his head and his chin cleanly shaven, highlighting his finely sculpted features. Fine lines didn’t make him look old; instead, they gave him a weathered charm.

“Here, this is for you.”

Yu Wen took the plastic bag he handed over and found it was a box of mixed fresh-cut fruits, along with a few bottles of multivitamins.

“Wow, thank you, Boss.”

As usual, Yu Wen blew a bunch of rainbow farts to flatter his boss, casually pushing the fruit to the side.

Xie Jiamao: “Are you not eating it?”

Yu Wen: “The vitamins? Haha, I’ll take them when I get back…”

Xie Jiamao: “I meant the fruit.”

“…”

Yu Wen cautiously lifted his eyelids and accidentally met his boss’s solemn gaze. He immediately shifted his eyes away guiltily.

“I’m not too hungry, I don’t want to eat…”

Xie Jiamao’s face was written all over with: Keep making things up.

“Alright, I don’t like any of it.” Yu Wen resigned to his despair.

Xie Jiamao rubbed his cheeks and sighed melancholically. “This won’t do, Xiao Yu, this is too serious. After this drama finishes filming, we’re going to the hospital for a proper full-body checkup. You’re definitely lacking a lot of things…”

“It’s not that I can’t eat it, it just doesn’t taste good.” Yu Wen peeled open the plastic lid, forked a piece of melon, swallowed it whole in two or three bites, and curled his lips in disgust.

As mentioned before, he didn’t like things too sweet or too sour; the best was somewhere in between. This degree was hard to describe. It wasn’t that there were fruits he absolutely wouldn’t eat; he was just extremely picky about the taste of fruits.

Xie Jiamao said sternly: “Even if it doesn’t taste good, you have to eat it.”

Yu Wen nodded reluctantly. “Okay…”

Xie Jiamao: “Xiao Xie, keep an eye on him.”

Yu Wen: “…”

Yu Wen turned his head, only to realize that Xie Heyu had been standing by his side at some point, currently looking down at him.

“Mn,” Xie Heyu responded.

“Sorry for the trouble, Teacher Xie,” he thanked him, looking crestfallen with droopy eyebrows and downcast eyes.

Xie Heyu, who was just about to sit down, paused his movements. He stood in place for a moment, hesitantly reached out his hand, and placed a warm palm on the crown of Yu Wen’s head.

Pausing for a second, he closed his fingers and gave it a rub.

An awkward comfort.

Returning home, Yu Wen summarized Xi Su’s life and entertainment career into a document—his intuition told him that this blue-haired guy would have a lot of scenes coming up.

Then he remembered something and retrieved his ID card, which had been stranded at the delivery station for about ten days.

The photo on the ID card was undoubtedly him, the name was correct, and even the birthdate matched. Only the prefix number representing the region was different.

At least he wasn’t an unregistered citizen. Yu Wen felt relieved for now and slept soundly.

The live stream had delayed him for two days. After eating breakfast, he hurried back to the Anecdotes of the Immortal Sect set at lightning speed.

As soon as Jian Heng saw him, he crossed his arms over his chest.

Yu Wen could figure out with his knees what he was imitating. Usually, he might have been very happy to play along and interact with Jian Heng.

But now… there were too many people, and his social anxiety acted up.

“One, two, three, welcome back! Teacher Yu, guess what we’re doing?” Jian Heng said cheerfully.

Zhu Xinyi, the actress playing Jiang Qiuyue, crossed her arms with a solemn expression on her face, “Don’t make noise, he’s thinking.”

Seven or eight colleagues surrounded Yu Wen in a circle, imitating his meme. Hearing this, they instantly burst into a chorus of laughter.

Yu Wen used his bag to cover his face and hugged a tree trunk nearby.

Jian Heng: “Xiao Yu, what are you doing?”

Yu Wen: “I’m shutting down.”

Jian Heng laughed like he was having an epileptic seizure. Zhu Xinyi was quick-eyed and deft-handed, snapping a picture of this scene. That evening, another meme was added to the crew’s group chat—Don’t make noise, I’m shutting down.jpg